Sade, le théâtre des fous [transmission 2014]

Extrait chorégraphique remonté par le groupe compagnie Feu de Plancher (Joinville-le-Pont), coordinatrice artistique Christelle Barré, dans le cadre de Danse en amateur et répertoire (2013)

Choreography by Marie-Claude Pietragalla and Julien Derouault
A choreographic extract remodelled by the group Feu de Plancher (Joinville-le-Pont), artistic coordinator Christelle Barré, as part of the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme (2013) (a programme created to assist and promote amateur dancing).

The group

The founders of Feu de Plancher first met during dance classes proposed by the Paris Universities. The company was set up in May 2002. There is no choreography teacher: the warm-ups are supervised by each of the dancers in turn, and the creative process is autonomous and collaborative. In 2011-2012, the company obtained a grant from the “Danse en amateur et repertoire” programme to revive an extract from Pal Frenák’s work Tricks & Tracks, working with the professional dancer Miguel Ortega.

The project

Wishing to pursue the work begun with Miguel Ortega, the group chose a piece that, in a different style, enables it to continue its reflection on the world of social and sexual violence by confronting a monument of literature and philosophy in the form of the Marquis de Sade’s works. The stage is the place onto which his mental universe is projected, marked by incarceration, madness, sexual fantasies, blasphemy, and the staging of human cruelty. Pietragalla-Derouault’s dance is made up of the bases of classical dance, with references to the court ballets and classicism of the 18th century, but breaks every academic convention by a contemporary and aggressive set of gestures and scenography: just like Sade broke with great fanfare the literary, moral and religious straitjacket of his time.

The choreographers

Do we need to present Marie-Claude Pietragalla? Etoile at the Opéra de Paris for nearly ten years, the first dancer to perform solo on the legendary stage of the Olympia concert hall, she was nominated as the director of the Ballet national de Marseille following Roland Petit’s departure in 1998. Five years later, she left to trace her own path and in 2004 founded the company Théâtre du corps – Pietragalla-Derouault with her companion and collaborator Julien Derouault, whom she met at the Ballet de Marseille. Since that time the company has conquered the world’s greatest stages with blockbuster productions. Sade ou le théâtre des fous, commissioned by Pierre Cardin to celebrate the divine Marquis in his castle, of which the fashion designer is the owner, is part of these large-scale productions that the two choreographers so love. Marie-Claude Pietragalla was a member of the jury on the television show Danse avec les stars (the French version of Strictly Come Dancing) from 2012 to 2017.